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The Secret of Happiness? When I fell in love with my wife to be, the world was transformed. It became a much more wonderful place. Life was good. Everything was good. It was a magical time. Life was a wonder to behold far more than it was a burden to bear. Sure, there were some less than splendid times, but they were isolated in a plenitude of joy. "God was in his heaven and all was right with the world." Eventually that exuberance subsided, as I am told it does for most who fall in love. I was still in a better place, but the world had settled back to normal. Years later, it occurred to me that this wonderful time might be some kind of preview of what life might be like always, if the secret of achieving that state of being could be found. It seemed quite possible that everyday life really could be that good. I have continued to believe this and I now think I know what the secret is. A hint came when I heard how the French theologian Jean Luc Marion explains part of the parable of the prodigal son. Marion says that when the younger son asked for his share of his father's estate, that which later would have become his inheritance, he was asking to own it for himself. He wanted to be able to use it as he saw fit, not in any way beholden to his father. He wanted to "live and move and have his being" in owning/spending it in complete independence, instead of in gratefully enjoying it as gift. The younger son moved from dependent gratitude to independent self-reliance. When I fell in love, I moved in the opposite direction. I moved to gratitude - gratitude for having this person, this one I loved so much, in my life. That was the reason the world was transformed. Think about it - no one who is grateful is unhappy, is without joy. Gratitude brings joy. It is at the heart of every experience of joy. Gratitude is the secret of happiness, of joy. We profess to believe that everything we have is a gift from God and that God so loved us that he gave his only son that we might have life - abundant life. Every time we celebrate the Eucharist, we celebrate a gift far greater than winning the lottery. We have much to be grateful for. Alas, knowing these things as true in our head does not bring joy. For that we must know them in our heart. But we cannot put them there on our own. It is by the grace of God that we come to know things in this way. We need to pray for that grace, especially to be open to it. For it is freely given by a God who is generous beyond our understanding. To the extent that we live in gratitude, we will enjoy abundant life. |